Three mistakes (almost) everyone makes introducing cats! 🤯
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
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Introducing cats is way more difficult that it first seems. And we want to make it as stress free as possible for cats, while still getting them to the point where they can live happily together. Here are three mistakes I often see that have thrown a spanner in the works and have caused things to fall apart.
Remember all cats are different and what works for one, may not work for another. When I work with clients and thier cats, I am always trying to keep risk to a minimum and setting them up for success as much as possible.
Here are my thoughts!
- Avoid throwing them together and seeing how it goes. And lets lump this in with sticking one in a carrier and letting them other approach. It can work in some situations, but there is a high risk of it going pear shaped and can be a super stressful experience for the kitties involved. Starting a gradual introduction with a barrier is much more successful and a lot less stressful!
- Avoid moving their food bowls closer together to get them to make friends. Cats prefer to eat alone so eating can become a stressful experience for both. It can cause competition to rise between cats and can do more harm than good in lots of situations. Use treats instead, and let them stay a good distance apart.
- Once the barrier is open, avoid sitting back and watching what happens. Spending time together without a barrier in between is still part of the introduction process, and we need to be there to supervised and manage their behaviour throughout. Use treats and toys as rewards and distractions to diffuse any tension and help them be around each other in a really low pressure way. Encourage them to be apart rather than together, get them sleeping on your lap or up a cat tree (separately if they want to) and learning to be together in the same territory.
Did you introduce your cats? How did it go? Or are you introducing cats at the moment? Let me know in the comments!
Lucy x
#cat #catbehaviour #lovecats #catbehaviourist #catlife #cutecat #catlover #caturday #catperson #cathelp #catfriends #happycats #catfight #catstress
I'm so happy I found this video. This "no pressure" method is working for my resident cat and my new kitten. .
Oh that’s so lovely to hear! So glad it’s working! It’s not easy though, hang in there!
I'm so glad to have come across your channel as your videos have been super helpful! I'm about 4 weeks in introducing my two cats, and after a rocky start things have gotten much better this week. No more hissing etc, which is a huge relief. One problem that has come up now is how to play with them together -- my resident kitten (7 mo) likes to wait on just the right moment to pounce on the toy, whereas new kitten (9 mo) chases immediately, so my resident seems to become discouraged. Would be very grateful if you have any advice:)
Hi! Thanks for the support and so glad to hear things are going better between your kittens. Managing their differences can be tricky sometimes. In all honesty, I would recommend playing with the separately while they are still little and playful. Or at least playing with your younger one away from the older one so she can play in her own time. She still might enjoy watching your 9month old playing too. You may find her confidence grows over time as they get more comfortable together xx
We’re about 2-3 months into this process in our house. An older male that’s lived here for years, and a young female that’s new. I was worried she’d be intimidated- but she immediately took over the whole house on the very first day! We’ve been trying to recover ever since…
Ah, they always like to throw us a curve ball! I hope you are able to recover eventually and they get along ok.
I appreciate your advice as we have been trying to introduce our 2 new kittens (5 months) to our resident cat and we have been using the feed close together with a screen door method - I will try and proceed with something more low pressure and less stressful for them now I know better.
Good luck! A screen door is a great set up! I’m sure you’ll get there! 😄
I love that the perspectives across the pond are steadfast in the whole feed together and close. I align more with the European view which incorporates the relative recent coexistence between humans, cats, and other cats.
I tried a very very slow introduction with step backs and try again to the point they were annoyed with not having access to other side and know who’s on other side.
I did notice fluffy b preferred eating at a different time at different location but Mr Qāt (the toyger who now calls Chicago home, and this week has been the first time since getting him june 2022 where there’s a sense of calm and safety rather than feline CC TV and eventually fluffy b wanna be friend turn foe as he didn’t accept rejection).
Eventually they co-ate as he wouldn’t eat lest she’s in eyesight and despite his larger tastier meal he’d mozy over to her and try to join. She asserted her boundary but you know how that went and then I noticed she’d eat very little and if they caught eyes, she’d walk away and then he’d go eat her food (I mean he never cleans any food plate like when it’s Fluffy’s) and then go back to his.
This re establishment of calm and safety at home has been unbelievably beneficial for Fluffy B and my mental health. And within days her what I thought was just her norm, coarse fur, has become nice and soft. Poor dear, she was so stressed.
It’s nice to have behavioralist such as yourself making content and luckily having found it on a search. Sadly it’s true all this technology is great it’s also controlled and thus the site preferentially brings up American content and thus the mostly biased view of cats are always better with another and there’s a need and it’s extremely rare that they can’t co exist. I reckon the solitary life lest excess resources still engrained and even then doesn’t result in a fulfilled feline if they’re living in tension.
Thanks for your expertise and engagement. I’m so grateful for your altruism with helping as at the EOD even if passionate about one’s profession, it is work.
I’m still waiting for that superthanks button (maybe it’s only in America).
Hi! Thanks for commenting, it’s lovely to hear your experience. That sounds like a tough time but you have handled it really well, and I’m glad finally you are seeing the payoff.
There is so much individual difference that I feel to some degree we have to be flexible and go with what works for the cats, so different approaches can work with different cats. Sounds like you know your cats and know what will work ❤❤
Thanks for your support, that’s so kind. Superthanks hopefully coming soon 😄😄😄
Sorry but I am too stupid to understand your text. So did you do it the slow way successfully or not?
@@--RBuo84 no no you’re not stupid at all! My post was incredibly verbose and the more verbose the more likely not understood. I need to work on that.
I went very slow with numerous step backs and reintroduction but the cats were far too different. The toyger was very high activity and territorial. I rehomed him to a wonderful cat mom who had always wanted an active toyger and looks like they are bonding well!
I've been following a lot of 'how to introduce cats' guides after bringing a new 2 y/o male into our house with our resident 5 & 6 y/o female and male resident cats, and the feeding on opposite sides of the door was one thing I always just felt would never work for us because our cats eat separately now and I felt it would introduce unnecessary stress to meal time. We've instead been giving treats in proximity to the door, and any time we spend a prolonged period in the room with the new cat making sure we scent swap and give treats to our resident cats when we come out!
How wonderful you trusted your gut and knew what would work best for your cats! 🙌
I am so happy I found this video definitely will be fowling your channel
Thank you, that’s so nice to hear! 🫶
My kitten is so tiny. I mean she is smaller than my first cat was as a kitten. I was wondering to do the carrier thing just once for the visual introduction. Only because my adult cat-one year has swatted my kitten under the door. And as she is so tiny I don’t want her ti get hurt. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think I should try doing the carrier method.
I wouldn’t recommend the carrier method here.
The risk of using the carrier is if the meeting goes badly and you see similar swiping, your kitten is likely to be very scared by your older cat and their relationship will be spiralling in a negative direction. They are less likely to get along once the kitten is out of the carrier. How about a fly screen? They work pretty well to stop swiping and help them get to know each other. Good luck! x
See, my big thing is that our most friendly of all the cats knows how to open doors. And jars. Anything can be opened by him given enough time. It's going to make introducing him (slowly) to the rescue we just took on as a challenge. We found the ONE ROOM Friendly Cat cannot break into.
We're letting New Girl tell us when she's ready for introductions. She's a soft sweet girl so I'm thinking I might be able to use some of your advice to make introductions go smoothly.
He sounds like a real character and a lovely cat! Good luck introducing him to New Girl.. I hope it goes well ❤️
I’m having a hard time introducing 2 cats. I have done very mistakes trying to do well
It’s so difficult sometimes! Sorry you’re having a hard time, I hope you make good progress soon x
We are about 3 months into the process (first month we didn’t do too much though- kitten was recovering from spay) and things are up and down, currently down. Our new cat is young, maybe at this point just a year old? Maybe a little less? And very rambunctious. She’s female. Our resident cat is also female (both are spayed) and has always been a bit of a scaredy cat and had an unknown history with other cats. Shes about 4.
Things were going pretty well where our older cat seemed pretty ok with the kitten frolicking around in the room 10 feet away, even 7 feet away, so we thought ok let’s let the kitten off the leash. Kitten immediately went to the older cat, older cat hissed and growled, kitten wouldn’t back up, yowling happened and a little fight occurred. We should have separated them way before that but we’d heard “at this point just let them work it out” so we wanted to see how it would end up. And during another session the kitten ran after the older cat when the older cat made a run for it.
So we are backing it up, trying to basically make both of them not care about the other in the room. It’s a bit disheartening because we were doing so well! And now I see the nervousness in the older cats eyes.
My question is when do you know you can let them off the leash to “interact”? Is the goal to have them avoid each other as much as possible and to praise avoidance/ignoring the other cat? Is there a point where the kitten will ever not want to chase? We play with her so much to try to expend energy but she just got so excited being free in a room with the other cat.
In your experience, if we are diligent, how long will this process take considering our cats ages?
Lastly, I’m often doing these sessions in the middle of the day because I work from home and the cats are calmer. I have the kitten on a leash and typically either play with her or feed her a lot of treats. I can’t really do too much with the other cat during this time because it’s just me. Is that a problem? I do try to grab a handful of treats to put in front of her right before I get the kitten in there. But it certainly doesn’t keep her occupied the whole time. Is it ok if she just watches or is that going to make the process slower? Any tips? She does stop watching after about 20 minutes. A week ago she would only watch for 5 mins 😭 but now we have ruined that progress! She will be distracted by treats but not so much toys.
Ah it’s so difficult isn’t it. Don’t feel disheartened, it rarely goes without a hitch, it doesn’t mean you can’t get them back on track. While she is young, your kitten will probably always want to chase your older cat. She is a moving target after all, much more fun than the toys on the floor. So it may still be hard work for the next few months until she has matured and is not so playful. It sounds like you are doing the right things in supervising their time together and playing with your kitten as much as time allows. If it’s just you, focusing on the kitten (like you are doing) is the best thing, most older cats just want the kitten to leave them alone, so you don’t need to worry about playing with your older one, or giving loads of treats (although you can do this when the kitten isn’t around so she isn’t missing out!). The set up of the environment is key too, focus on providing loads of high places and hiding places so they can feel like they can get away from each other, even when they’re in the same room. Keep going, sounds like you are doing great! Good luck!
Just to add, only take off the leash when you feel confident you can get your kitten’s attention. So toys and treats at the ready, and pre-empt her chasing or jumping on your older cat (easier said than done I know!).
It can take months to be honest, but all the while you are making progress, keep going. And things should get easier as your kitten gets older.
I had two introduction failures. First, do they have ANY social experience with OTHER cats? Are they around the SAME AGE? Is one of them a resident cat protecting its territory. It just sucks to see no progress. I had to give up and return a one-year-old back to the shelter. An outstanding one year old orange tabby. Super aggressive to our 20lbs main coon. It was going to get ugly if not deadly. Tried all the methods for a month. Not good. Now I have a LARGE MOBILE CAT CAGE for another try in the future. Seeing, smelling, and just getting used to each other MIGHT work. Makes more sense. Separating cats made them even MORE NUTS. Made their anxiety go through the roof. lots of kittens didn't get the social skills needed. Taken away from the mother and other kittens to soon. That's the other problem. Makes them too independent. So, one of my cats died due to a UTI, so that's what I've been trying to fix. BTW, AVOID CAT UTI get them off that DRY food even IF they drink water. Not enough moisture. It's a quick killer. Male indoor neutered cats prone to this CAT KILLER. Tricky to notice also. THEY CAN'T PEE. BLOCKED. IT WILL KILL IN HRS. Dry treats OK.
Yes we need to take into account their individual needs. The frustration of being separated is a very real issue for lots of cats. So it’s almost like you need to choose the lesser of two evils, separation, or being around a new, strange cat. Sorry to hear about your cat that passed away.
I made mistakes in the introduction..they are back being separated. Is this too late to recover this now or have I ruined it?
It’s not ruined! Start again.
No not ruined! Just need to go slowly from here on! Good luck!
Wow that idea of having one cat in the carrier is AWFUL!!!
Isn’t it!